A former salesman for the New England Compounding Center took the stand last week and claimed that the drug firm used falsified names on prescription drugs.
Under Massachusetts law, as well as laws and regulations in many other states, signed patient-specific prescriptions are mandatory.
Kenneth Boneau, a former salesman for the drug firm, acknowledged records showing that fake names such as Wayne Gretzky, Paul Harvey, Johnny Cash, and Al Bundy were used when prescribing drugs.
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, argued that other NECC employees demanded real patient names on occasion, backed by company records.
A 2015 Newsweek report cites a 2010 email from Barry Cadden, former NECC president and CEO, which shows Cadden was aware that falsified names were being attached to drug orders in order to quickly meet a growing demand.
“We must connect the patients to the dosage forms at some point in the process to prove that we are not a [manufacturer],” Cadden wrote in the email. “They can follow up each month with a roster of actual patients and we can back-fill.”
The Newsweek report lists other fake names connected to the drug prescriptions, including Big Baby Jesus, Donald Trump, Calvin Klein, Jimmy Carter, Hugh Jass, Filet O’Fish, and Coco Puff.
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Defense lawyers cited memos showing that orders that didn’t specify real names went through solely with the personal approval of Cadden. One of the cited memos from Cadden to staffers stated, “I’m the only one that makes this decision.”
Boneau’s testimony came at the conclusion of the first week of a federal trial for six former NECC employees who are being charged with racketeering, mail fraud, and conspiracy. This follows a federal probe related to a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which killed 64 people and sickened over 700.
Glenn Chin, the supervisory pharmacist in charge of the NECC cleanroom; and Barry J. Cadden, former co-owner and president of the NECC; were each tried on charges of second-degree murder in 2017. Both Chin and Cadden were acquitted of the murder charges, but were sentenced to prison (eight years and nine years, respectively) for racketeering and fraud charges.
Former NECC pharmacy technician Scott M. Connolly pleaded guilty to mail fraud in August 2018.
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